From conducting “spotlight” specials about Plainsboro’s business community on local cable channels to updating township promotional brochures, the township is looking to help its business community in a variety of ways.
That was the message Mayor Peter Cantu delivered during his state of the township speech during the Plainsboro Business Partnership’s monthly meeting on April 19 at Princeton Windrows.
During the event, Cantu highlighted the range of projects around town that hope to bring an economic boom to the area, but he also addressed questions and concerns raised by business owners in attendance.
“I’m mindful of the fact that we’ve had challenging economic times, and of the fact that we’ve had some stress, particularly in some of the retail parts of our community,” he told the group.
Cantu also said there would be an upcoming announcement for expansion of a “major” Princeton Forrestal Center occupant and the possibility that transportation officials would be initiating a new bus route that would take people from Plainsboro to Princeton and back, which would help Plainsboro’s local businesses.
Despite the economy, Plainsboro’s market has, for the most part, weathered the storm, he said. The new University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro is currently under construction, and other components of the healthcare campus are already coming together. The Merwick Care and Rehabilitation Center celebrated its grand opening over the winter, and the steel is currently rising on the 150,000 square foot medical office facility adjacent to the hospital, Cantu reported.
In addition, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is moving through the planning process to ultimately build a 100,000-square-foot remote facility on the new healthcare campus, he said. “It’s going to enhance the image of what we think will be one of the premiere healthcare areas in the nation,” Cantu said.
“This project is not only a wonderful project as far as the services it will be providing to the region and to Plainsboro, it is also an economic home run for this community,” he said. “It’s being developed in a way that will drive substantial financial benefit to Plainsboro Township.”
The project represents $1 billion of economic activity during the construction phases and will be the source of $1 billion in economic activity moving forward once it is fully developed, Cantu said.
In addition, the Plainsboro Village Center, including the new library, and the new 30,000-square foot office facility currently being constructed, is also helpful to the business community. “You see the steel for that going up, and they have been advertising potential occupancy as early as October or November of this year,” Cantu said.
Elsewhere, Cantu said township officials have had discussions with one of the “major occupants” of Princeton Forrestal Center that is looking to expand by up to 500,000 square feet.
“We understand that they’re very close to a decision as to where that will go,” Cantu said. “We understand the decision will be Forrestal Center. That’s really great news for us. We’re hoping that announcement takes place in the next several months. That will bring economic development to the community.”
Meanwhile, Princeton Forrestal Village is under new ownership. The 550,000-square-foot complex at Route 1 and College Road was sold for $55 million to Investcorp International this winter. “We anticipate meeting with that new ownership soon,” said Cantu.
The Eden Institute is currently constructing a new building in Forrestal Village. The Plainsboro Planning Board gave subdivision and preliminary and final site plan approval to the Eden Institute in January, 2009. The move to the 2.7-acre Plainsboro site comes as a result of the growth Eden has experienced since it was established in 1975. Cantu said Eden would be requesting to construct a 4,000-square foot addition to the plans as well.
Cantu said the opening of an educational campus at St. Joseph’s Seminary would also be beneficial to the community while preserving the buildings on site. Along with the American Boychoir School, the French American School of Princeton and the Wilberforce School will operate at what will be known as the Princeton Center for Arts & Education (PCAE) at the seminary, officials announced in February.
In addition to development, the township is also working on ongoing infrastructure improvements. “Nothing happens in a community with economic development that doesn’t require a careful look at infrastructure improvements and expansion of infrastructure to support that development,” Cantu said.
Among those improvements is the traffic calming work currently underway on Plainsboro Road near the Princeton Meadows Shopping Center. The project is currently in its second phase, and will include intersection improvements, curbing, and sidewalks. The $1.75 million project is being funded in part by $1.5 million from grants. Cantu said he anticipates that project will be completed by September. “There will be some disruption, but I think in the end, it will be worth it,” he said.
Resurfacing and drainage improvements on Mapleton Road will hopefully be completed by next year, said Cantu. The $4 million project is being funded entirely by Middlesex County. Edgemere Avenue will also be reconstructed this year.
Cantu also addressed the traffic concerns on Route 1. During a meeting with the Department of Transportation commissioner a few months ago, Cantu said the commissioner was “very blunt about the fact that it didn’t appear there was going to be substantial money for the major improvements that were proposed some time ago for Route 1.”
But suggestions to deny northbound traffic access to Washington Road and Harrison Street — and instead, send traffic to Scudders Mill and Alexander roads — have generated a variety of reactions from officials in the area. “They presented it not as a fait accompli” but for consideration as an experimental project to see how local roads would be impacted, Cantu said.
“My reaction to it is that if the test was purely a test, and it’s a short duration and properly designed, it’s worth considering,” Cantu said. “I think there needs to be a great deal of discussion about the timing of the test, but I think the test is not unreasonable. I think we can take a look at anything to improve traffic conditions.”
While a shuttle has recently been initiated to take travelers from Jamesburg, through Plainsboro, and to the Princeton Junction train station and back, DOT and New Jersey Transit officials have also suggested a new line that would provide services between Plainsboro and Princeton.
Cantu said the shuttle would begin in the Plainsboro Village Center, travel through the redevelopment area and out to Route 1, to Alexander Road, head into Princeton, pass college facilities, head up to Nassau Street, and end at the shopping center there. He said that the idea was a “breath of fresh air” after many transit meetings over the last few months. “I think they’re looking at potential sources of funding, since no one has any money these days,” Cantu said. “They think there could be some grant funding. I’m optimistic this could happen.”
Paul O’Brien, the president of the Plainsboro Business Partnership, said that “rather than looking at this as taking business out of town, we can look at it as bringing business into town because the bus runs both ways.” Cantu agreed.
When it comes to other initiatives to help businesses in Plainsboro, Cantu began doing “Spotlight Specials” last year for the local cable channel. In each of four episodes, he visits one of the business areas in town and meets with a business owner. The first one he worked on was for the Princeton Meadows Shopping Center. “We met with one of the retailers there and talked about the center and what’s there,” he said. “Most importantly, it’s not just what that one retailer does. In that process, we highlight everything that is in the center.”
Cantu said he just completed another segment for Princeton Forrestal Village, which featured Tre Piani restaurant. In addition to the Spotlight Specials, he also participates in the “Newsmakers” segment on Comcast, a five-minute special broadcast regionally, not just in Plainsboro, in which he promotes the community.
Cantu also listened to questions and concerns raised by the business owners at the meeting. O’Brien asked how the business community could develop a better relationship with the municipal government to promote Plainsboro as a destination. Cantu said he pushed the township to include money in the budget this year for updating its town brochures.
“We have a ‘Welcome to Plainsboro’ brochure that is hopelessly outdated,” he said. Township Administrator Robert Sheehan is looking into improving it and updating it to focus more on the businesses in town. “I am intent, frankly, on having a piece of material that promotes what I think is a great community,” he said. “We’re going to do it this year.” He said business owners were welcome to make contributions toward improving that brochure.
Signage issues dominated most of the business owners’ concerns. “There’s Plainsboro Road that was the original Plainsboro Road, and then is the Scudders Mill-Plainsboro Road that is parallel,” said Eileen Sinett, owner of Comprehensive Communication Services, which is located on the older section. “The GPS directs people to 666 Princeton Meadows, but it is confusing because both roads are parallel and are called the same road at some point. Has there been any thought about managing that in a way that differentiates that?” She asked whether there could be a sign that distinguishes “Old Plainsboro Road” from the new one.
“That’s a challenge,” said Cantu. “I’m not sure how you do it. It’s confusing when you give directions.” He told her he would look into it.
Heba Macksoud, of the Plainsboro Pharmacy at 9 Schalks Crossing Road, said there has been a problem with signage. She says customers tell her they couldn’t find parking. “I tell them there is additional parking in the rear, and they didn’t know that,” she said. “I’ve mentioned it to (developer) Sharbell, and they’ve said the town doesn’t allow signage. People don’t know the names of plazas. They don’t know that we’re Plainsboro Village or Princeton Meadows. Despite the fact that we have all these beautiful sidewalks, the reality is that the bulk of people drive, park, and go to where they need to go.”
She asked whether the town would consider appropriate signage on the main walkways of the plazas to allow people to see what is inside each plaza.
“The community is very concerned about the esthetics of the signs,” responded Cantu. “The easiest answer from the developers’ standpoint is to say the township doesn’t allow it. That’s not true. It’s not that we don’t allow it. It’s that if you want to do something, we require you to come in and present it comprehensively.”
Ron Yake, the township’s zoning officer, who also attended the meeting, said that the owners of Princeton Meadows came in for a sign a couple of years ago. “That sign would identify some of the key or anchor stores in that shopping center,” he said, adding that it was approved. “It’s soon to be under construction; it’s under the permitting process now.”
Other concerns from business owners included the state of the Superfresh and the need for a supermarket to draw business into town. Business owners also asked about a gas station in town.
Cantu said township officials have also been concerned about the Superfresh, and the possibility it will be affected by bankruptcy proceedings of A&P. “That’s one of the reasons why we’ve been accelerating discussions with the ownership,” he said. “Superfresh is an important element to that center. It survived the first cut of the bankruptcy proceedings. It was not one of the stores targeted for closure like the one in East Windsor.”
He said the owners told him that there would not be information on the final outcome of the bankruptcy proceeding until sometime in the late summer, but Cantu has told the owners to keep the township updated. “We’re hopeful that it will survive,” he said. “I’m optimistic it will.”
As for the gas station, Cantu said it would be unlikely for a station to locate anywhere but on a major highway. “There is limited or no opportunity to put a gas station on Route 1 in Plainsboro, and quite frankly, I’m not sure I want one.”
